A Pokémon Egg (Japanese: タマゴegg) is an object which every Pokémon hatches from. An Egg's shell usually has a pattern reflecting the appearance of the Pokémon inside. Pokémon Eggs are produced through breeding. According to a girl in Solaceon Town, no one has ever seen a Pokémon lay an Egg, and so it is not actually confirmed that they lay the Eggs. No alternate explanation for their creation is offered, however.

Some Pokémon, called baby Pokémon, can only be obtained in most games by hatching them from an Egg. All legendary Pokémon except for Manaphy and Phione cannot breed in the Pokémon games and therefore their eggs are only seen in rare situations if at all; however, from Pokémon Snap and other situations, it is known that these Pokémon can somehow produce eggs and, subsequently, young offspring. Eggs will always hatch into a base evolutionary stage, or in cases such as Marill and Wobbuffet without the proper incense, the stage immediately following a baby stage. In the games, every egg of every species of Pokémon use the same sprite design, with the only notable exception being Manaphy's egg. However, in the official artwork and anime, each egg's coloring depends on the species it will hatch into. This is likely due to a space limit.

In the games preceding and including Generation III, Eggs hatch into level 5 Pokémon. Starting in Generation IV, however, to be more consistent with the fact that wild Pokémon are found at levels lower than 5, Eggs hatch into level 1 Pokémon.

In the games

The first appearance of eggs in the Pokémon video games was in Pokémon Snap. In this game, the eggs of the three legendary birds can be found and hatched. All three eggs are very large, appearing to be about the same size as the ZERO-ONE, which suggests the size of an Egg increases with the general size of the Pokémon species.

Pokémon Gold and Silver were the first games in which Eggs and Pokémon breeding became a notable part of the system. In this game, an Egg can be produced by two Pokémon at a Pokémon Daycare, which is then given to the player upon their next visit. This Egg is carried in the player's party until they take a certain number of steps and the Egg hatches. The number of steps required for an Egg to hatch varies with the Pokémon species inside the Egg.

In the anime

The first egg ever seen was Togepi's, which briefly predated Pokémon Snap and thus could be considered the first Pokémon egg ever seen in the main canon. This egg was kept safe and warm by Brock; in later episodes, eggs are carried in individual containers designed to protect and incubate. These containers also come with a Poké Ball to keep the Pokémon in once it hatches. People are also seen polishing the shells of eggs they take care of.

An egg that is going to hatch soon flashes until it hatches (with the exception of Togepi's egg). When it hatches, it glows bright white and seemingly transforms into the Pokémon that was inside of it. Because of the way they hatch in the anime, several fans say that eggs "evolve" into Pokémon, instead of actually hatching from them.

This egg was translucent blue with a red, yolk-like sphere and a ring of yellow dots inside of it. It was primary to the plot of Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea. During the movie, while everyone was trying to protect the Egg, the center began to glow. When May caught it after being tossed into the air it began to hatch into a Manaphy.

The Psyduck Stops Here!: Psyduck eggs were seen in this episode and were the reason why the Psyduck were blocking the road. These eggs were yellow with patterns that looked like Psyduck feet.

Trivia

Apart from Dawn and Max, each main hero of the anime has received a Pokémon egg.

No Pokémon that was hatched from an egg in the anime has evolved twice, either because their evolutionary line prohibits it (Phanpy and Eevee), their evolutionary line went no further than one evolution at the time of their release (Togepi), or simply because, as of this point, the Pokémon who can go on to evolve twice have not even undergone one evolutionary event yet (Larvitar, Azurill, Happiny).

Aside from Manaphy, which is legendary, no anime Pokémon that has been hatched from an egg is a Pokémon that is unable to evolve.

In the anime, each egg owned by a main character and shown onscreen has been stolen from the rightful owner prior to its hatching. The usual perpetrator is Team Rocket, but there have been others.

Misty's Togepi egg was stolen by Team Rocket, though it wasn't hers at the time.

Ash's Phanpy egg was also stolen by Team Rocket.

Ash's Larvitar egg was stolen by three poachers prior to Ash obtaining it.

May's Eevee egg was first taken by accident by a disoriented Elekid. It was then found by Team Rocket and they planned to not return it to May. However, James willingly gives it to her in exchange for his Mime Jr. which she had found.

Manaphy's egg was taken by The Phantom, then stolen (rescued) by Jack Walker. Then Team Rocket takes it from him briefly before Phantom attempts to get it back.

Brock's Happiny egg was stolen by Team Rocket. However, this was before it was given to him personally.

In the episode Address Unown, it was revealed that Pokémon are able to see the world outside of their Eggs.

Pokémon have been seen interacting from inside their Eggs-- Manaphy had used Heart Swap on Team Rocket before it even hatched (It was also implied that it was the one who gave May the dream involving the Sea Temple).